it's TODAY!

Yeah, I never did get online yesterday....what with finishing up the packing, practicing again, and finding out that Terry was "whisking" me away to the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in downtown Atlanta for our "pre-anniversary" celebration, I was kept busy the whole time. This is the tallest hotel in the western hemisphere, and staying on the 60th floor gave us an awesome view of Atlanta, the capitol building, Braves Stadium, the Olympic park, and the aquarium, among other points of interest. He said we had 6pm dinner reservations, so we had some time to relax....or rather, he relaxed, and I re-checked just about everything in my suitcases...eliminating a few more things I figured I could do without. After weighing the suitcase at home and finding it to be a couple ounces over 50 pounds, I gave it my best and figured I took out about 3 pounds' worth of stuff........when I checked in here today, sure enough, it was 47 pounds. Man, I'm good!
But, I get ahead of myself. Just for anyone who cares, here's a little bit of useless trivia. Do you know it IS possible to "refill" a travel-sized toothpaste tube from your larger one? Just in case.......
Ter said it would take about 5 minutes to walk to dinner, which, as it turns out, was on the 72nd floor of the hotel....in the SunDial restaurant! You guessed it! It revolves! It was the clearest evening, a lovely sunset, and 360 views of all around Atlanta, along with Miss Ann, the best server we've probably ever had. In her 27 years working here she has served 3 or maybe 4 presidents, and several CEOs, including the Donald and Lee Iaccoca....(can't remember how to spell THAT one!) Interestingly enough, Miss Ann said the presidents and "bigwigs" she had taken care of were the most gracious and thoughtful people.....nice to hear. On the other hand, she said, "how do I say this? I've served many sports guys, and they were...can I say short?" Her words. Just sayin'
Terry handed me a box, which I of course opened to find a citrine necklace and earrings....citrine is my favorite stone, and, who knew? one of the 11th anniversary gifts is citrine! He actually checked! What a guy! After the most scrumptious dinner AND dessert, (well, it was our 11th anniversary eve, after all) Ter said we had "one more stop" to make and we caught a cab. Dropped us off at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. Huh? Dinosaurs? As we walked in, there was some great live music playing, and we bought 2 tickets to the IMAX film. However, as we walked down the stairs to where the band was playing, who walked up but Hayley! Ter's younger daughter and 3 of her friends were there to join us and help celebrate the day! Great surprise, and though we've seen Hayley quite often, we had some catching up to do with Kelly and Tiffany, whom we had not seen since Hayley and Jason's wedding. Brittany was new to us, and she was actually working so we just said a quick hello. Hayley got us some perrier and coke, and then "insisted" we go to the photo booth for pictures! It was really funny to find out later that they could watch us from the outside on a screen.....they were laughing when we came out, but they were a great part of the fun we had. Went into the IMAX theater for a wonderful documentary film on Saudi Arabia...... breathtaking photography and a great narration by a young Saudi photo-journalist who went back to "find himself" and discover who his people were. Really enjoyed that one, and made so much more fun by having the 3 girls there too. Afterward, Terry told them I was leaving for Romania today and they all came outside, laid their hands on me, and prayed for me! Pretty powerful to have "20-somethings" (yeah, I know your ages!) mature enough in their faith to pray for this ahem, 39-many-times-over woman. Brought tears to my eyes, and I know these girls are the real deal. One of them asked what is the most pressing need in Romania, and Terry replied that really, it's a "golden age" of sorts....people are so open and hungry for the gospel, and the churches are full.....many of the missionaries who go into other European countries come from Romania.
The gals mentioned they're starting another small group Bible study with some of their other friends....at all levels of spiritual maturity....we'll sure pray for them too...especially Kelly, who is leading the first one in 2 weeks! We hugged, our taxi came, and parted ways....got one more call from Hayley when we got back to the hotel.
It was a perfect sendoff.....mostly because I was so distracted by all the fun. Calling our flight now....lots more to tell.